Patent GB-1096022-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to apparatus for detecting and indicating the extent of relative movement
IPC: G01B21/06
Filed: 1963-06-21
Abstract: 1,096,022. Photo-electric measurement of displacement. C.R. COOKE. June 18, 1964 [June 21, 1963], No.24873/63. Heading G1A. In apparatus responsive to the relative movement between two relatively movable members e.g. for measuring the extent of relative movement between a machine tool carriage and a slide, light or magnetic flux from an A. C. reference source is passed through a pair of superimposed gratings each of which is attached to a respective one of the members so that a cyclic pattern of interference fringes is obtained, the flux from each of a plurality of elemental areas of the fringe pattern being received by a respective detector, each connected to a phase-shifting element which feeds into a circuit to give an output which is phase displaced relatively to the reference signal by an amount proportional to the displacement of the fringes from a reference position, the output then being compared with the reference signal. The apparatus is similar to that described in Specification 991, 907. Besides displacement measurements the speed of relative movement may be measured, being proportional to the frequency of passage of fringes across an elemental area. In one embodiment of the apparatus, the light source is a gallium arsenide cell 1, (Fig. 1), having a 400c/s single phase supply. Light passes through a collimator 5 and the reference and index gratings 3, 4, and is directed, by collimating lenses 7, on to photo-cells A-E. A mask may be used to divide up the area of the fringes considered. The outputs of the cells represent in-phase signals of different amplitudes and are each passed through phase-shift elements comprising a resistor 15 and capacitor 16, to divide up the output signals. These phase-shifted signals may be represented by five vectors (18a-e, Fig. 4, not shown) whose resultant (19) is compared, after amplification at 11, with the source by means of a phase sensitive receiver 23 to give an indication of the relative displacement of the two members. The magnetic system Fig. 7 (not shown) uses magnetic flux gates or pick-ups energized by a single phase reference source. The gratings producing the pattern may operate on the vernier principle or be crossed and equally ruled. Spatial harmonics, caused by the passage or fringes across an elemental area with variations other than of pure sine waveform, and which result in inaccuracies in the measurements, can be reduced by increasing the number of elemental areas considered (and corresponding photo-cells). Six cells may be connected to two three-element phase-shift networks acting in push-pull. Spatial harmonics may also be reduced by placing the gratings in close proximity. If coarse gratings are required to be used, fringes are obtained with the gratings very close together, giving rise to strong spatial harmonics, which may be reduced by careful adjustment of the orientation of the fringes with respect to the elemental areas considered, by special masking or collimating arrangements, and by comparing the resultant output signal with one of the photo-cell outputs. One of the gratings may be specially prepared so as to have a sinusoidal variation in transparency (for the optical grating) or polarity (in a magnetic system). Arrangements are described which are adapted for the measurement of displacements over relatively large distances. For example, the system may comprise three sources Fig. 8 (not shown) and three pairs of gratings, each pair associated with three cells and a phase-shift network. The three sub-systems are designed to give coarse, medium and fine measurements or connect with respective control apparatus. In another such arrangement, for high accuracy measurement, Fig. 9 (not shown), two high frequency supplied sources are used and the gratings, the ruling dimensions of which are given, operated on the vernier principle. Arrangements are also described for measurements of angular movement using a pair of coaxial circular gratings. The arrangements described may be adapted for obtaining more than one output phase. A system operating with light-sources energized from different phases of a polyphase supply and using a single photo-cell, is described Fig. 6 (not shown).